PHOTOGRAPHY. 



WOOLWICH AS A CENTRE FOR PHOTOGRAPHY. 



J. BORTHWICK PANTING, F.R.P.S. 



Many people, strangers of course, have an idea that the locality 

 is impossible from a camera point of view. Howbeit, this may 

 arise from an all too prevailing notion, possessed by our camera 

 friends, that, in strictly manufacturing centres, with their huge 

 agglomerations of bricks and mortar, no place is to be found for the 

 photographer. This, from the standpoint of the pictorial photo- 

 grapher, is generally true. But Woolwich furnishes a remarkable 

 exception. The artistic worker will find here a wealth of good 

 subjects. In the Crown Woods, on the side of Shooter's Hill, 

 beautiful tree studies may be found. Again, on the lovely Bostall 

 Heath, very fine pictures have been made from the graceful birches 

 and bracken there, and exhibited at the leading photographic 

 exhibitions. The pine- woods adjoining will always entice the 

 exposure of a few plates. There is a fine view to be obtained 

 from the corner of the Heath on the top of the hill looking down on 

 St. Nicholas' Church, aided by fine sunset cloud effects in autumn ; 

 the distant river flows in sinuous lines through the view, with a 

 silvery sheen upon its flowing tide ; there is the hazy mist which 

 has softened down the nearer mass of factories and strings of poorly 

 built streets. All these carry the eye to the greater London beyond, 

 which is suggested by the glimpses of St. Paul's Cathedral and 

 the Tower Bridge as they are lined against the sky. 



Woolwich is viewed at its best from the summit of Shooter's Hill, 

 and there are many pleasant peeps from Shrewsbury Lane. A good 

 view of the adjoining country is also to be obtained from the top 

 of Eltham Common, Shooter's Hill, close by the Hospital Water 

 Works, where at sunset fine effects are afforded of the undulating 



